Expositional Preaching: The Calling of God & the Need of the Church

INTRODUCTION

“I preach expositionally.” The popularity of this claim has increased dramatically among preachers in the last two decades. Expository preaching, as a title, has become an almost faddish mantra. It is cool to claim to be a Piper-esque, MacArthur-loving, Spurgeon-quoting hip expositor. The above statements may seem overly harsh considering the superiority of biblical exposition. Nevertheless, those who call themselves expositors must ask, “does the profession—does the assumed title— match the content in the pulpit?”

God’s plan has always been text-driven, context-aware, and spiritually-mined expository preaching. Foundationally, Jesus explains the indispensability of his Word for Christian ministry when he prays, “sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17, ESV) Expository preaching labors to deliver the sanctifying Word of Truth so that lives may be changed. For that reason, the recent interest in text-driven messages prioritized over relevance-driven topical messages is a demonstration of God’s grace for modern congregations. But the health of the Church is dependent on the presence, not the claim of biblical exposition. For it is through the exposure to God’s message that the health of the church is maintained.¹

But the health of the Church is dependent on the presence, not the claim of biblical exposition.

Expositional integrity in the pulpit does not come naturally. Genuine expository preaching must advance from conviction to practice through learning. Before one can do, one must understand. Thankfully, as interest has grown, so has the availability of resources. The accessibility of books, conferences, and seminary courses teaching the proper exegesis and exposition of the biblical text now fill a sizeable subset of the homiletic genre. Through the labor of local church practitioners and seminary professors, the next generation of ministers has abundant resources, equipping them to teach and preach the text of Scripture with integrity.

Exposing God’s timeless message in the weekly text is the core pursuit of expository preaching. To exposit is to set forth, uncover, or expose the meaning of something. Simply stated then, expository preaching is the delivery of a sermon that uncovers the meaning and message of the biblical text for the listener. For this reason, exposition is more than sequential preaching. Exposition certainly benefits from verse after verse book-by-book preaching. But one can preach sequentially and not preach expositionally. Likewise, exposition accomplishes more than the exegesis of a text. Sound exegesis indeed anchors exposition. But word studies, context mining, and text outlines can fill the pulpit without preaching expositionally. In summary, exposition is more than text selection or textual study. Exposition is the movement from the thorough exegesis of a text to the exposure of God’s timeless message contained therein.

Exposition is the movement from the thorough exegesis of a text to the exposure of God’s timeless message contained therein.

In doing this, biblical exposition—or faithful preaching—places the authority of the message in the text. As the expositor restricts his message to God’s revealed truth, he demonstrates his conviction in the relevance of the Spirit-aided Word to sanctify the hearer. When the text is uncovered, it exposes the character and purpose of God centered in the work of Christ. This divine revealing results in a life of Spirit sanctified worship. Indeed, to truly exposit Scripture, as so many now claim, the preacher must commit to a text-bound sermon that exposes the glory of God in Christ for the perfecting of the saints and the salvation of the lost. Preaching a Christ-centered, text-driven message brings the life-changing power of God to the pulpit—and no church can thrive without it.

Preaching a Christ-centered, text-driven message brings the life-changing power of God to the pulpit—and no church can thrive without it.

WHY Preach Expository Sermons?

Simply stated, we preach expository sermons because God has commissioned His Word to be preached. God’s Word is powerful, transformative, and fit to sanctify and equip the believer for all good works. The faithful preacher sees the content of Scripture as the only source of an authoritative, relevant, and powerful sermon. Paul charges Timothy and, by inference, charges every future preacher to “preach the word” (2-Tim 4:1-2). Jim Shaddix contends that the shepherd’s “primary task is not to give opinions, indirect implications, or extra-biblical principles but instead to reveal the Holy Spirit’s intended meaning in Scripture so that people’s minds are exposed to supernatural truth, and their lives are transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.”² The spiritual fruit of salvation and sanctification comes through hearing the Word of God. The preacher has the task of making it known.

Paul charges Timothy and, by inference, charges every future preacher to “preach the word” (2-Tim 4:1-2).

Expository conviction is rooted in the understanding that God’s Word is powerful. The writer of Hebrews says in chapter four, verse twelve, “…the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” James tells the believer to “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (Jas 1:21) No other word has the power to do that. “…faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Rom 10:17) The Word of Christ must be heard if the power of God is to be known.

God manifests his power in Scripture’s revelation of Christ’s saving work. The ongoing work of salvation, initially applied in regeneration, will sanctify—bring about Christlikeness— in the life of the believer. The exposition of Scripture makes that saving work known. The shepherd’s conviction to preach the intended message of any given text comes from the confidence that everything “necessary for man’s sanctification” has been sovereignly included in God’s written Word.³ God’s Word is a tool of spiritual transformation invaluably sourced to every believer. Therefore, it is exclusively prioritized in the local church’s discipleship program, of which preaching is pinnacle.

God’s Word is a tool of spiritual transformation invaluably sourced to every believer.

Additionally, the expositor understands that God’s Word not only sanctifies the believer, but it is through the Word of God that his church is built. Paul tells Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2-Tim 3:16) The inspired Scripture is the equipping Word on which lives and churches are built. This conviction allows the expositor to confidently narrow the content of his message to the always relevant message of God contained in the Bible. God’s sufficient Word preached is his plan to build his church.

In essence, we preach expository sermons because the message found in the text is the powerful, saving, and equipping message that Christ’s church lives on. Like sun and water are life to the flower, God’s Word is life for his Church. For this reason, the expositor labors in biblical exposition that the church might live.

HOW does a sermon become exposition?

There are two functional elements of biblical exposition: hermeneutics—exegetical “investigation,”⁴ and homiletics— the development of the biblical message discovered in the hermeneutical process. The discovery and delivery of God’s intended message is the unified pursuit of the expositor’s study and the subsequent formation of the sermon. From this conviction, the minister labors weekly to unpack the “big idea”⁵ of God’s message in a particular text. He does this knowing the congregation’s greatest need is to hear that message.

Every expository discourse begins with “rigorous attention to the wording of the text.”⁶ Two things are required if the proper attention is to be given to exegesis: effort and time. Inductive Bible study is labor. But God promises to reward the expositor with understanding as he prays for Holy Spirit illumination (Ps 119:18) and studies out the riches of the text.

Committing to the exegetical process is essential because imposing the preacher’s thoughts upon a text—eisegesis— is dangerously easy. As an “exegetical escort,”⁷ several considerations must be adopted to avoid the error of eisegesis. One such consideration is that the genre of the text must be determined. Tony Merida wisely cautions growing expositors that “we must interpret the text in a manner that is consistent with its literary genre.”⁸ Understanding the genre of writing — historical narrative, apocalyptic literature, etc. — significantly impacts the understanding and application of the text.

Every expository discourse begins with “rigorous attention to the wording of the text.”

Additionally, the preferred delivery method of exposition is book-based series. Even though I stated early in this paper that “exposition is more than sequential preaching.” Systematic exposition is consistent with how God unfolds Scripture’s message. The great theme of Scripture, the glory of God in Christ, is told through paragraphs that fit into cohesive biblical books. For this reason, the sequential preaching of a book-based message series allows the minister to better study and develop the weekly text for his congregation in the context of that book’s overall message.

Whether a message is part of a sermon series, context is always a vital consideration. In the book, Expository Exultation, John Piper states, “knowing the author’s larger vision of reality will guide the preacher in handling particular texts in ways that are not contrary to the author’s intention.”⁹ Exposition tenaciously pursues contextual understanding to achieve textual faithfulness. What the biblical author intended to communicate to the original listener is precisely what the expositor wants to distill and then speak to his contemporary audience. The all-important message of God is discovered in part by examining the surrounding text through the lens of the author’s ancient cultural context.

The precise meaning of the text in its original language is another critical consideration in exegesis. The modern expositor has significant access to the linguistic tools for these original language word studies. Regardless of the preacher’s formal training and current aptitude in the language of the biblical manuscripts, utilizing the help available is a crucial exegetical step to validate the sermon’s faithfulness to the author’s original meaning.

Finally, in this non-exhaustive list of exegetical considerations, a primary concern in the hermeneutic process is how the text fits into the meta-thesis of Scripture. By meta-thesis, expositors are to understand that God is telling one redemptive story across all the paragraphs, books, and genres in the Bible. This redemptive story can be summarized as the glory of God through the provision of Jesus to meet humankind’s present and eternal need. God’s Word presents Jesus as the Hero of every text.¹⁰ For this reason, a Christ-centered Word demands a Christ-centered message. These exegetical considerations protect the author from imposing his ideas on the text.

God’s Word presents Jesus as the Hero of every text.

Sound exegesis is the bedrock of good exposition. Yet, the sermon does not become exposition until it makes the move from the exegetical discovery of the Main Idea of the Text, or M.I.T,¹¹ to the homiletical development of the Main Point of the Sermon, M.P.S.¹² This movement bridges the biblical message given in the context of the ancient audience to the faithful application of that message in the context of a contemporary audience. Ultimately, as Jim Shaddix says, this bridge is the Spirit’s work. “He provides divine assistance in connecting the ancient text to life today.”¹³ But practically, this bridge is crossed as the expositor contextualizes the text’s big idea for the modern audience. He accomplishes this through a clear summary statement of the M.P.S further developed in a present-tense introduction, outline, application, and conclusion. In doing so, a sermon becomes exposition as it makes the move from the discovery of the text’s meaning to the delivery of that text’s message for today’s audience.

WHO does God intend to do the work of biblical exposition?

God, in His divine plan, calls men to preach his life-changing Word. The power in this spoken Word does not come from the rhetorical talent of the mouthpiece. Instead, the Spirit of God is responsible for the effectiveness of the heavenly message delivered through human faculties. In this way, preaching is both a human and a divine work. Nonetheless, this partnership in preaching, headlined by the Spirit’s work, comes with personal demands on the life and character of God’s herald.¹⁴

The character of the shepherd matters. Tony Merida points out that “it does not matter how gifted you are: if you do not have godliness, you do not have a ministry.”¹⁵ Overshadowing the New Testament list of the preacher’s qualifying attributes is the minister’s “blameless” character. Beyond qualifying the man of God, the shepherd’s character is where effective pulpit delivery begins. People listen to men they respect. Spiritual immaturity in the preacher’s personal life undermines the redemptive message exposed in the text. Stephen Rummage makes this clear to young preachers when he writes in his homiletics textbook, “In Christian preaching, the speaker’s relationship with God and his spiritual and emotional maturity also affect tremendously his ability to communicate.”¹⁶ For this reason, God requires his mouthpiece to be a humble and Christlike proclaimer of his Word. Though still imperfect, God uses godly men. Therefore, the cleanest tool will always be God’s sharpest, most effective tool. Character matters to God and the congregation, so faithful preachers must first seek to be God-honoring in their personal lives.

Therefore, the cleanest tool will always be God’s sharpest, most effective tool.

Secondary to the expositor’s character is his presentation in the pulpit. Character will make up for deficiencies,¹⁷ but the minister must not be content with oratorical shortcomings. “Preaching is both a calling and a skill.”¹⁸ Therefore, it is the responsibility of the minister to work on his craft consistently and intentionally. In exposition, there will always be more grace for deficiencies in delivery than there will be for exegetical flaws. While the pursuit of meaning and sermon development will always be the priority, the preacher’s oratorical skills in delivery remain important. Effective speech must be pursued through avenues of honest feedback, a teachable disposition, and the utilization of all the resources at his disposal.

“Preaching is never about the preacher.”¹⁹ However, God intends to use a gospel-impacted, Christ-honoring man as the mouthpiece for his life-changing Word. Therefore, it is the preacher’s responsibility to be a humble, skilled, Spirit-yielded delivery boy.

The Results of Biblical Exposition

God chooses to use the “foolishness of preaching” (1-Cor 1:21) as an instrument of his saving and sanctifying work. Paul explains in first Corinthians that the “word of the cross,” not the “words of eloquent wisdom,” is the transformative power of God for Christian proclamation. When the message of God is exposed through biblical exposition, the result is an authoritative, relevant, and Spirit-accompanied sermon. For this reason, the diet of biblical exposition is the need of the church and the divinely given method for faithful preaching.

The first result of exposition is that it brings God’s authority to the pulpit. John Piper contends in Expository Exultation that exposition “maintains the authority of Scripture as sufficient and anchors the preaching in the only source of authority.”²⁰ For this reason, Piper asserts, “the more speculative preaching is, the more it loses its God-given authority.”²¹ The only authority the preacher brings to the pulpit is the authority inherited from the text itself. Therefore, exposition is authoritative because it derives its authority from God, not the preacher. For this reason, preaching cannot be just an explanation about God. It must be a message from God.²² To say it another way, exposition is not “good stuff, but God’s stuff.”²³ Faithful preaching—authoritative preaching—must report what God has actually said.²⁴

The only authority the preacher brings to the pulpit is the authority inherited from the text itself.

Additionally, biblical exposition results in a relevant message. Relevance is the concern of the day for many preachers. In pursuit of application, many churchmen start with “felt needs” and “hot topics” and then, from these subjects, develop topical messages. Too often, these topical messages impose inaccurate applications and meanings on a text. These “felt need” messages are delivered out of a desire to provide answers for the individuals in the pew. While awareness of congregational needs is honorable on the shepherd’s part, a relevance-driven methodology in the pulpit ultimately fails. Through a conviction in the sufficiency of Scripture, the preacher is challenged to speak the message in the text. By conveying the text with integrity, the expositor communicates an awareness that a relevant sermon starts and ends with the words of God. If God’s Word is sufficient, as evangelicals agree, then there is only one relevant life-changing message that the congregation needs—God’s message discovered and delivered in biblical exposition.

A third and all-important result of preaching expository sermons is that God’s Holy Spirit’s power accompanies the words of Scripture. Spirit unction in the pulpit is not a subjective hope but an objective reality when the minister exposes the divine message through preaching.²⁵ Preaching is, first and foremost, a spiritual work. Therefore, if anything is to be accomplished in preaching, it must be in and through the Spirit of God illuminating the application of his Word in the hearts of the hearers. The expositor Bryan Chapell contends that “when we proclaim the Word, we bring the work of the Holy Spirit to bear on others’ lives.”²⁶ Perhaps the most logical defense for biblical exposition is the humble admission that the preacher has no message apart from God’s intended message. The declaration of God delivered in faithful exposition results in an authoritative, relevant, Spirit-accompanied sermon.

Conclusion

Paul’s instruction to Timothy, and thus to the 21st-century preacher, is to “Preach the Word.” Therefore, the statement “I preach expositionally” must be more than a mantra. It must be the intentional practice of every preacher called to stand as a mouthpiece for God. Expository preaching is a serious and humbling task, but the orders are clear, and God has provided the tools. Through the Holy Spirit’s help, the pastor, as a student of the Word, labors through exegesis to arrive at God’s big idea for the congregation. Then, through prayer, he bridges that message from the ancient world to the modern world, culminating in the delivery of God’s message to thirsty people. The local church shepherd understands that it is Christ who saves his Church, not the preacher. Furthermore, it is Christ who builds his Church, not the preacher. And it will be Christ who sanctifies his Church, not the preacher. If you are a preacher, let this reality free you. Get behind the work God promises to bless. Commit to a systematic, text-bound message that exposes the glory of God in Christ for the perfecting of the saints and the salvation of the lost — that through the believer’s worship, God may be glorified. Preacher, we must preach expositionally.

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